VICTORY THIS YEAR

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1944, Page 5

VICTORY THIS YEAR

MONTGOMERY'S ESTIMATE

[ LONDON, Sept. 19 Field Marshal iiviontgomery in a I Belgian field during the presentation I of medal-ribbons to officers and men of the Scottish Division for heroism on the Normandy beaches said tne war in Europe would be over before the end of the year. He said: “Before we started this business, I gave it as my opinion that if w>e did our stuff, we could have the' war against the Germans ovpr this year, ft is now the middle of September and 1 will go so far as to say that statement is absolutely rignt. There is no doubt about it. The Germans are in a very awkward position. The Allies are closing in against them from all sides. No human power can stop, the utter complete defeat of the remnants of the German army. If ‘ you defeat the German armies everything else is yours for the asking. I would say there is no point in rushing straight away to Berlin to-day, or this week. You will make the job easy if you first defeat the Germansi or collect them as prisoners.” “The Germans made many mistakes. The first was on D Day, when they waited instead of counter-at-tacking. Then instead of conserving their reserves and yielding ground it necessary to do so, they gathered reinforcements from all parts of Europe and flung them piecemeal into tne battle. This enabled the Allies to gain a great victory in Normanay, after which everything was easy. Tne second great German mistake was after the American break-through on July 25. They assembled six panzer divisions, and attempted to break through to the coast. Our right flank was then at Le Mans on the way to Paris. W,e immediately stopped. and right-wheel, turned flank northward to go behind the Germtns I maintained from that moment that we had won the war. The Germans never recovered from that trap. Those who escaped were cut off in the second pocket towards the Seine. The position to-day is that we have taken prisoner more than four hundred thousand Germans, and are maxing ready to finish of the war."